Younger Brother

Time passed, and Allen turned four. It was early spring, in March, when the snow was gradually melting and green shoots were beginning to sprout in the fields. Allen was alone in front of the tree in the yard.

He'd been throwing stones since the month he turned three, so he'd been at it for about a year and a half. A yellow log announcing a level-up appeared on the cover of the Grimoire.

'Your Throwing Skill has increased to Level 3.'

(Finally, Throwing is Level 3.)

Allen had successfully acquired the Skill called Throwing and had even managed to raise it to Level 3.

He checked how many stones he'd thrown by looking at the memo in the Grimoire.

(As I suspected, there are fixed rules for acquiring Skills. It was exactly ten thousand throws.)

The cumulative number of stones he'd thrown over the past year and a half or so:

・10,000th stone: Throwing Level 1

・20,000th stone: Throwing Level 2

・120,000th stone: Throwing Level 3

(It might only work this way for the Throwing Skill, but there are fixed conditions for acquiring Skills and leveling them up.)

・A certain number of attempts are required to acquire a Skill.

・The number of attempts required to reach Skill Level 2 is the same as the number required to acquire Skill Level 1.

・Skill Level 3 requires ten times as many attempts as Skill Level 1.

The part of the tree hit by the stones had been worn away in a round patch after being struck 120,000 times. At first, he'd limited himself to a hundred throws a day, but when he reached Level 2 and realized the number of attempts mattered, he'd increased it to three hundred. He'd kept that up ever since.

(If this were Normal Mode instead of Hell Mode, would a hundred throws be enough?)

Hell Mode required a hundred times as much effort to level up and develop Skills as Normal Mode. He guessed that applied to experience points and the number of attempts needed to develop Skills.

(Well, what should I do about Throwing Level 4? If it takes a million throws to reach Level 4, even throwing three hundred a day would take over nine years. I don't have anything else to do, so I might as well keep throwing until I decide on something else. If I throw another hundred or two hundred thousand and my Skill doesn't go up, I'll know it takes a million.)

He checked his status as he thought about what to do next.

【Name】 Allen

【Age】 4

【Job】 Summoner

【Level】 1

【Stamina】 16 (40) +26

【Magic】 1 (20)

【Attack】 4 (10) +26

【Durability】 4 (10) +6

【Agility】 10 (25) +10

【Intelligence】 12 (30) +4

【Luck】 10 (25)

【Skills】 Summon〈2〉, Create〈3〉, Synthesis〈2〉, Expansion〈1〉, Swordsmanship〈2〉, Throwing〈3〉, Delete

【Experience】 0/1,000

・Skill Level

【Summon】 2

【Create】 3

【Synthesis】 2

・Skill Experience

【Create】 1,846/100,000

【Synthesis】 1,325/10,000

・Summons Available to Create

【Insect】 G, H

【Beast】 G, H

【Bird】 G

・Holder

【Insect】 G 2 cards, H 2 cards

【Beast】 G 13 cards

【Bird】 G 2 cards

It took him one year and ten months to reach Summon Level 2, but now, at four years and five months old, he was still at Summon Level 2.

He'd started raising Create Level 2 and Synthesis Level 1 after turning three, and had raised them to Levels 3 and 2, respectively.

(Why didn't Summon Level increase when Create reached Level 3?)

Whenever he checked his status in the Grimoire, this question came to mind. Perhaps because his Summon Level hadn't reached 3, the number of summons hadn't changed. When his Summon Level reached 2, Bird G-rank summons became available. He needed to raise his Summon Level to summon higher ranks.

(I have no idea how to raise my Summon Level, though.)

There were no guidebooks or strategy guides for reincarnating in another world, so he had to figure things out through trial and error. After Create reached Level 3 but Summon remained at Level 2, he'd wondered how to get Summon to Level 3. Eventually, he decided to raise Synthesis to Level 3. He thought that if he raised every Skill level, perhaps Summon would be pulled up along with them.

As for Synthesis, its Magic cost remained at five even when its Skill level increased. Unlike Create, Synthesis might have a fixed Magic cost.

Swordsmanship had naturally improved because Krena came over almost every day to play knights. In a year and a half, Swordsmanship had reached Skill Level 2. After increasing the number of times he threw stones, his Throwing Skill had advanced even further.

As with Throwing, the presence and level of a Skill made a difference in everything, including power. Whether it was Throwing or Swordsmanship, his body's movements were adjusted. His movements were corrected to make them more natural and his posture more proper. He also felt that both the force of a pebble and the force of a sword strike had increased.

Skill Acquisition and Testing

・The body's movements are adjusted.

・Power increases as the Skill level rises.

This was a sword-and-magic fantasy world, but it wasn't a game. He couldn't see anything like damage numbers, so he didn't know exactly how much stronger he'd become, but he could tell his attacks had more power.

"Allen, come help me with lunch!"

It was almost lunchtime. Telesia called to Allen from the house while he was in the yard. He went inside to help his mother.

"Yes, Mama."

He stood beside Telesia, who had a toddler on her back, and helped prepare lunch.

Telesia had safely given birth to her second child, a boy. He'd been born around December the year before last, so the toddler on her back was a year and a half old. He was already awake, apparently, and kicking his legs.

Rocking him on her back, she handed Allen a steamed potato and a wooden masher.

"Mash, your food will be ready soon, okay?"

"Uh-huh!"

Mash replied with a sleepy, drawn-out sound, drooling as he spoke. Allen's younger brother had been named Mash. He had brown hair and green eyes, and his features seemed to resemble their father's more than their mother's.

Rodan had named him after a magical beast from this other world. According to Rodan, it was a wolf-like magical beast called a Murdergarsh. It was a lone wolf that roamed the world as it pleased. Allen could sense his father's strong wish for Mash to live freely.

Like Allen, whose name came from Albaheron, Mash's name had lost much of its original form.

When Allen asked what rank a Murdergarsh was, he learned that it was a B-rank magical beast, two ranks higher than the D-rank Albaheron. No younger brother could be better than his older brother.

(Eat lots and grow big, my little brother.)

Mash had already started eating solid food, so Allen mashed the potato to keep him from choking on it. He still hadn't helped out in the fields, but he was doing much more around the house now.

"I'm back!"

Rodan had returned from the field beyond the yard. The family gathered around the hearth for lunch. As serfs, and due to the customs of this other world, they kept their midday meal quite light.

Rodan often wolfed down a couple of steamed potatoes before heading back to the field.

"By the way, I hear this village is going to be called Devoji Village next year. The lord's messenger came and told us."

Rodan shared what he'd heard from another serf at the village's communal well that morning.

"So the village is finally getting a name."

(I guess it's grown enough that it won't be called a pioneer village anymore.)

The village had been under development for nine years. Now that settlement and production had stabilized, it seemed the village would finally be given a name in its tenth year.

"Yeah. They said it'd be named after the village chief, so that's what happened."

(Chief Devoji? I've never seen him.)

He recalled something Rodan had told him before. Once a pioneer village had grown enough, it would be named after the most famous person in the village. Usually, that meant the first village chief.

Rodan said he was heading back to the fields, then left. Telesia had stayed with Mash constantly until he turned one, but after that, she began helping Rodan with the fieldwork when Mash was napping.

(This is what family time is like.)

Rodan kissed Telesia on the cheek before leaving. She protested, but looked happy. Allen watched Mash and wondered if they might have a third child. His little brother gripped a wooden spoon and ate with all his might, making a mess around himself.

Every now and then, Allen wondered why he'd been reincarnated.

He'd sincerely wished to master a game with ridiculously demanding settings. So he didn't really regret coming to a sword-and-magic fantasy world. He'd left his old world at thirty-five. His parents there might be a little sad, but since he hadn't been married or had a girlfriend, he figured it probably wouldn't be too devastating for them.

However, when he'd first come to this world, he'd thought that being transferred as an adult would have been better than being reincarnated as a baby.

He'd wanted to be free of all restrictions and focus on developing himself as a Summoner. He'd imagined being transferred, going to a nearby town, becoming an adventurer, hunting magical beasts, and devoting himself to leveling up and improving his Skills.

Kenichi had always searched for the best equipment and maxed out his level whenever he played a game. That was how he'd always played. He'd wanted to do the same sort of thing in another world.

Allen had been in this world for four years. He didn't even know the name of the country. His parents never mentioned it, and he hadn't gone out of his way to ask. For now, he only knew that it was a kingdom and that the village was within a baron's territory.

(Family time is nice, too. At least I can free everyone from serfdom. Though I have no idea how.)

Having a younger brother had made him think more about his family. He'd found himself a goal besides leveling up.